On this World Refugee Day, as global attention shifts once again to new fronts and new wars, we remain focused on Gaza—its people, its refugees, and the unrelenting violence they continue to face.

This war on Iran did not begin in a vacuum. It emerged just as international pressure was mounting on Israel to comply with international law, to implement the ICJ’s provisional measures, and to face accountability at the ICC for its genocidal war on Gaza. When the pressure rose—so did the distraction.

The war was unnecessary.
It was strategic.
It was designed to shift the world’s gaze.
To bury the reality in Gaza under headlines, fear, and false urgency.
To rehabilitate Israel’s image, regain Western support, and suppress the rising calls for justice.

But we will not look away.

Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began, 2.2 million Palestinians lived there. Now, only 1.8 million remain. Israel has wiped out entire neighborhoods and communities. Over 80% of Gaza’s population were already refugees—displaced from their homes in what is now called Israel in 1948. Today, every single one of them is displaced again. Some have been forced to flee seven or eight times in just the last few months.

Entire families are being killed while fleeing, while sleeping, while collecting aid. Gaza is being emptied.
This is not a “conflict.” It is the continuation of the Nakba—a deliberate, systematic policy of erasure.
Every day, more than 50 Palestinians are killed. In the last week alone, over 600 Palestinian have been massacred by Israel in Gaza. The humanitarian aid they rely on is being turned against them—used to target, not protect. Gaza is being starved, bombed, surveilled, and silenced.

And as the bombs fall, the cameras turn away.
Suddenly, we are told to panic.
To forget the mass graves, the flattened cities, the starvation.
To forget the medics, the journalists, and the children slaughtered.
To forget Gaza—and look instead to Iran.

But we must ask:
Why does international law suddenly matter when Iran is accused of violating it—but not when Israel openly and proudly does the same?
Why is self-defense a right only granted to nuclear colonial states?
Why is it legal for Israel—an undeclared nuclear power—to attack its neighbors at will, but criminal for others to respond?

This is not about law.
It is about power.
About who international law protects—and who it is designed to ignore.
For nearly two decades, Israeli leaders—especially Netanyahu—have fueled panic over Iran, repeating the myth that it seeks to “wipe Israel off the map.” Just like they accuse Palestinians of wanting to “throw Jews into the sea” for demanding their internationally recognized right to return. These narratives don’t protect lives—they are used to justify killing.

They nurture a siege mentality.
They train an entire society to live in fear.
And they use that fear to justify apartheid, genocide, and colonial domination.

Even inside Israel, Palestinian lives are deemed disposable. This fear is weaponized—deepening apartheid in moments of shared crisis. Today, over 60 out of 71 Palestinian municipalities inside Israel have no public shelters. In Tamra, a Palestinian city of 37,000, where four women and children were killed—there are no public shelters. Meanwhile,  the city of Safed—with a similar population—has 138 shelters. The nearby Jewish community of Mitzpe Aviv, with just 1,100 residents, has 13.

And even now, Palestinians, foreign workers, and even Ukrainian immigrants are being refused entry to public shelters by Jewish Israeli residents. This is not the result of a failed system—it is the system. A society built on racial supremacy and colonial separation.

So when Israel destroys every hospital in Gaza, kills medics and journalists, and annihilates families—it is justified.
But when Iran responds to Israeli aggression—we are told the region is at risk.
And once again, Israel becomes the eternal Zionist victim.
This manipulation must end.
International law is not a weapon to be selectively applied based on the color of your skin, the power of your allies, or the value of your resources.
The myth of Western moral authority must be exposed for what it is: a tool to uphold supremacy, justify violence, and maintain a colonial order.

Let us be clear:
This new war is not about defending Israel.
It is about defending Zionism.
It is about deflecting accountability.
It is about maintaining impunity.
We reject it.
And we return our focus to Gaza.
To its people.
To its refugees.
To the Right of Return—not as a distant dream, but as the only just and necessary future.
To ending the Nakba—not managing or distracting from it.

On this World Refugee Day, we remind the world:
Palestinian rights are not negotiable.
Justice is not a threat to peace—it is its foundation.
And no amount of war, distraction, or manipulation will erase this truth.
End the Nakba. Begin Return.